Collin Jinks is an award-winning pianist and a native of Minnesota. He began his formal musical training under Dr. Jo Anne Link at the nationally recognized Crocus Hill Studios. Jinks earned his Bachelor of Music from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of piano department chair Yoshikazu Nagai, and conducted additional undergraduate studies under Dr. Jack Winerock and Dr. Steven Spooner at the University of Kansas. He pursued his graduate studies with department chair and director of graduate musical studies, Dr. James Giles, at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, where he served as a graduate assistant. His graduate work was generously supported by the Eckstein Fund.

An accomplished performer, Jinks has appeared across the United States and abroad. He has appeared in faculty recital at the Amalfi Coast Music and Arts Festival in Maiori, Italy, was a finalist on National Public Radio’s From the Top, and holds top prizes from the Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford, the International Steinway Concerto Competition at the Colburn School, and the Schubert Club Competition. Jinks is a Chopin Prize Recipient from the Chopin Foundation of the United States and a first-prize winner of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) National Piano Competition.

During his residency at Northwestern University, Jinks was awarded first prize in the 2024 Pauline Lindsey Endowed Scholarship Competition and was subsequently named the recipient of the 2025 Thaviu-Isaak Endowed Prize in Piano, Northwestern University’s highest distinction in piano performance. In masterclass, Jinks has performed under artists John Perry, Enrico Elisi, Vladimir Feltsman, Sergei Babayan, Olga Kern, Barry Douglas, Kevin Kenner, Boris Slutsky, Bernadene Blaha, Yong Hi Moon, Inna Faliks, Awadagin Pratt, Garrick Ohlsson, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Leon Fleisher.

As a concerto soloist, Jinks has appeared with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra, Minnetonka Symphony, Minnehaha Repertory Orchestra, and the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra. His performances have been aired on Classical Minnesota Public Radio.

A devoted educator whose teaching spans nearly a decade, Jinks maintains a broad pedagogical scope, providing an approach equally adept in guiding young beginners as it is in mentoring the most gifted students toward the highest levels of artistic preparation. At Northwestern University, he instructed advanced undergraduate pianists through the Bienen School’s non-major piano program. His students have earned placement in competitive summer sessions, including the Interlochen Center for the Arts Advanced Piano Program.

Jinks’ teaching is grounded in the conviction that the art of piano playing extends far beyond the piano itself. The instrument eventually becomes a tool for accessing the innately rhetorical and songful sensibilities imbued in the human spirit. His teaching prioritizes the development of healthy technique, work ethic, and reward for one’s long-term commitment. He holds as a truism that when we serve the music and the music alone, we better ourselves, those we encounter, and the world at large.

Jinks presently serves on faculty at the Kramer’s School of Music and maintains a private studio.